Carrot Cake

Right, got a few Riverford carrots in the fridge so what better way to use them, than in a cake! March and April seem the time to bake Carrot Cake. My first stop on the journey is Felicity Cloake’s article on How to cook perfect carrot cake. The blog featured at Guardian is always a winner, dwelling into the history and techniques of a particular recipe.

Reading the comments on the website, I came across a link to Ottolenghi’s Carrot Cake recipe added by www.beeapproved.com. This cake appealed to me the most thanks to the addition of coconut and its lack of sultanas/rasins, which I love by the way, but really DON’T love in a Carrot Cake.

METHOD
For the cake:
– mix dry ingredients together: flour, desiccated coconut, baking powder, baking soda, spices and walnuts.
– in a separate bowl, beat oil with sugar until sugar is dissolved a bit (about 1 minute), then add the egg and egg yolk. Mix well, then add grated carrot.
– add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, and as for muffins, don’t over-mix!
– wipe the bowl that contained the dry ingredients and beat egg whites with salt in it, until firm peaks form.
– incorporate delicately egg whites to carrot mixture, making sure not to over-mix (streaks of white in the mixture are okay, says the book)
– bake the cake in a lined-up 20cm cake tin for about 1 hour at 170°C: a knife inserted in the center should come out clean. If the cake gets darker before it’s cooked, cover it with foil. Let the cake cool completely (before you ice it). Remove from the tin.

To make the icing, mix the butter, vanilla and mascarpone or cream cheese in a food processor or bowl. Gradually add the icing sugar and mix until smooth and creamy. Do not overmix or the icing may curdle. Spread onto the cake and make patterns in the top.